Edlington attacks: Let's see the full report, demands Cameron

The attacks that shocked Britain: Full coverage

The "torture" of the nine and 11-year-old in Edlington, near Doncaster, "profoundly shocked the whole country", he said.

Two brothers, aged 10 and 11 at the time, have admitted the attack, which took place last April, and will be sentenced this week.

At Commons question time, Mr Cameron said the publication of summaries of serious case reviews (SCRs) into other cases had not led to action on the ground.

Seven children known to Doncaster Council have died in the borough since 2004, prompting SCRs, Ofsted inspections and a Government investigation.

Mr Cameron said: "In the case of Baby Peter (in Haringey), the summary was found to be completely inadequate; it was not worth the paper it was written on."

But the Prime Minister insisted lessons would be learned from the summary of the report into the Edlington attack, which will be published later this week.

Everyone was agreed about the "seriousness of this case", Gordon Brown told MPs.

"For two boys to be assaulted in this way by two other children who were at that time in the care of foster parents but who had a history where there had been social services and other intervention(s) to try to deal with their problems is one of the most tragic cases we could see," he said.

"I do not want Britain to be defined by the appalling violence and irresponsibility that's been shown to the youngsters by two other youngsters."

Every children's organisation has recommended that only the executive summary of the SCR should be released to the public, he added.

Mr Cameron said: "Reviews into murders by mental health patients are published in full.

"They manage to have the correct amount of anonymity.

"Why do we treat murders by mental health patients more rigorously than torture and potentially killing and murder of children?"

Mr Brown said "professionals" had recommended that the best way of proceeding was to publish a summary of the SCR.

"The reason is to protect the anonymity of the children and allow people to say things...

"Remember, the purpose of an SCR is to learn lessons of what has happened and that's why the summary is published, when people are clear what lessons have to be learned."

The Tories should "not stand isolated" against all professional advice in the field, he warned.

But Mr Cameron said the NSPCC had said the situation was "not black and white; there have been occasions when the executive summary has provided a lack of clarity".

Two children had been "tortured to within an inch of their lives", he said.

He pointed to a BBC report that found the full SCR and the summary "don't match up".

He added: "Aren't we in danger of having a cover-up if we don't publish it in full?"

Mr Brown said the SCR had been leaked but had not yet been published and the summary would be published "at the appropriate time".

"How we learn these lessons is a matter for people now to look at the summary of the SCR.

"I asked them to consider the anonymity of the children as an important issue and also the freedom of children to say to the inquiry what they think has happened and what they think has gone wrong."

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "On the advice of Lord Laming, children's charities and organisations working to protect children, the Government believes that full SCRs should remain confidential beyond the immediate partners involved in a case, the relevant inspectorates, Government Offices and the relevant Government departments."

Lord Laming, who headed a review into children's services in England in the wake of the death of Baby P, last year concluded that "SCRs inevitably include a great deal of case material that should remain confidential".

This was not only to protect vulnerable people and children but also because SCRs depended on the co-operation of witnesses, he said.

The DCSF spokesman added: "No child should be failed by the services that are supposed to protect them.

"We always act swiftly where we have evidence that a local authority is failing to deliver children's services to an acceptable level.

"We are already intervening in Doncaster's children's services following Ofsted's judgment that their children's services are inadequate 'overall' and have recently agreed with Doncaster Council the action they must take to improve the service."